Legal Jumbo Meaning

Although all of these terms are often used interchangeably, they mean different things. In the legal context, these must be used and understood correctly. In Robert Heinlein`s Stranger In A Strange Land, the character of Jubal speaks towards the end of the novel in a discourse on the meaning of Mumbo Jumbo`s religions as the “god of the Congo”. Suing someone means taking legal action against them. Mumbo Jumbo is a term that refers to unnecessarily complicated language or confusing explanations. For example, you may say that you do not understand the “legal hocus-pocus in a contract”. Mumbo Jumbo usually refers to jargon or special language designed to exclude or confuse others. Hocus-pocus can also refer to superstitious or religious things that are confusing or that the listener or reader cannot easily understand. It is a very familiar term used in informal contexts. Even more blatantly, many affidavits written by lawyers end with the words “more affiant says nothing” or, in some falsifications, “plus affiant says not.” Perhaps Shakespeare would be grateful that the language used in his time has not changed in 500 years, but where in modern literature would one find such a language and what does it add to a document that the period at the end of the penultimate sentence or otherwise last sentence does not do? If this sentence did not appear, would the reader continue reading even if there is no other content? The words “H”. These words “here”, “hereunder”, “in this regard” and “hereafter” are the cornerstones of legal drafting.

Although these words, with the exception of “below”, are beyond precision because it is never clear whether they refer to a particular paragraph, section or the entire agreement, they are generally used as an abbreviation of “in this document”. Generally, the “summary” requires the addition of a separate definition section to clarify its meaning. You won`t see these words in everyday language or even in non-fiction books, except perhaps the use of “in the afterlife,” which refers to an existence beyond the grave. These “h” words are foreign to everyday language and exist only in legal documents, perhaps as a tag to identify the document: “This is a legal document!” Hocus-pocus is something that doesn`t make sense or is confusing, but claims to have meaning. When you sign a contract, you must first read a bunch of legal hocus-pocus. Another form of repetition commonly used by lawyers is the use of verses, two words used together when a single word conveys the same message. Commonly used couplets are: “terms and conditions”, “good and valuable”, “commitments and agreements”, “free and clear”, “everyone and everyone” and “everything and all”. While some of these couplets may be used in everyday language, they appear to be disproportionately used in legal documents. Hocus-pocus or hocus-pocus is confusing or meaningless language.

The term is often used to express humorous criticism of middle management and jargon such as legal language that non-specialists find difficult to understand. For example: “I don`t understand all this legal mess in small print. Regardless of what American legal dramas like Suits, Law and Order and The Practice tell you, there`s nothing romantic about courtrooms, lawyers, and trials. Stupid drive syndrome. This term refers to a practice used in a single field outside of legal writing, writing cheques. Here, the author assumes that a reader does not have enough intellect to understand, as if the document were talking about “30” days, the author is referring to “30” days and not to some other number of days. To help the reader, whenever the author refers to a number, the number is expressed in both Arabic words and letters. Therefore, one party must “notify the other thirty (30) days in advance” or there may be a “ten (10) day delay” before action can be taken.

Lawyers do not limit this dualuse to lengthy legal documents; Cover letters often contain “two (2)” copies of an attachment. Outside the legal realm, authors attribute enough intelligence to the reader to understand a number when expressed in a single word or character or series of characters. 1. Something that is too complicated, confusing, or of no real meaning It is doubtful whether a contemporary author will succeed in developing his career using the design techniques commonly used in legal documents. Nevertheless, lawyers are contemporary authors; You are the author of legal documents. These documents do not become more effective by using archaic, repetitive or otherwise evil language that some call legal “hocus-pocus”. There should be a certain degree of pride in writing a clean, clear and readable document. Those who aspire to this goal may share the same sense of accomplishment in their craft as the authors of a recent work of readable non-fiction. For newcomers to the United States, navigating the legal route is much more confusing because of the legal hocus-poucus. If you don`t know what that means, you won`t know what to do about it.

Here are some of the most common legalisms that make it difficult, if not impossible, for an ordinary English speaker to grasp the contents of a legal document under the layers of mud added by the author. Although often used interchangeably, different things involve and deduce. The difference becomes more important in legal contexts. Lawyers may be offended that the product of their profession is not appreciated by the general public, but should they be offended if they write their documents in a language other than modern English? Why is it necessary for lawyers to use “legal language” to express themselves? Law may be inherently a conservative profession that continues to express many concepts as expressed centuries ago; For example, the distinction between law and justice. But we have moved from an agrarian society to an industrial society, and is it necessary to cling to the traps of a bygone era? More importantly, bad English is an end in itself. But what is “plain English”? It can be difficult to articulate what “simple English” is, but it sounds like Potter Stewart`s characterization of pornography – “I know when I see it.” Perhaps the simplest way to characterize “simple English” is negative: it`s not your typical legal writing. Proponents of simple English try in one way to replace simple pronouns such as “I”, “I” and “you” for typical terms used in legal documents such as “seller” and “buyer”. In this regard, they may have gone too far to lower the bills. There are many more important domains before you have to replace nouns with pronouns. It may be noted that some progress may have been made, albeit at an icy pace, in virtually eliminating the identification of parties to an agreement as “part of part one” and “part of part two”. In 1972, Ishmael Reed wrote a postmodern novel titled Mumbo Jumbo, which addresses a wide range of influences on the African diaspora and culture, including historical realities such as the rush to Africa and the Atlantic slave trade, as well as his invented influences such as the “Jes Grew” virus.

The novel contains an etymology from the first edition of the American Heritage Dictionary that derives the term Mumbo Jumbo from the Mandinka mā-mā-gyo-mbō, meaning “magician who makes the restless spirits of the ancestors disappear”. [4] [5] Although the novel cites this dictionary entry and contains a lengthy bibliography, the work is largely fictional and regularly blurs the line between fact and fiction. The title can also be interpreted as referring to the idea that postmodern works such as Mumbo Jumbo are often dismissed as absurd. The movement appears in Charles Dickens` Little Dorrit, originally published as a serial between 1855 and 1857. “He never dreamed of denying their claims, but paid tribute to the miserable hocus-pocus they performed.” Do you really want to understand U.S. laws, legal language, the legal system, and how justice is done? You would probably need to get a law degree for that. Mumbo Jumbo is a name and is the name of a grotesque idol that is said to have been worshipped by some tribes. Figuratively, Mumbo Jumbo is a meaningless object of worship or a meaningless ritual. The term hocus-pocus is often used to describe overly complicated legal formulations or ridiculously complicated bureaucracy.

If you`re stuck in the motor vehicle department all day, standing in line and signing forms, you might feel like the process of getting a driver`s license is nothing more than a hocus-pocus.